NASCAR charters are like lottery tickets. If one team charter doesn’t perform, there’s always another one to make the bet. But that’s not the purpose of a team acquiring more than one charter. Another purpose is to have absolute domination in the championship, just like Hendrick Motorsports has been doing. Yet another one is to have rookie drivers make a debut. If they are able to perform, that’s the best-case scenario.

However, if they underperform, their races can aid the dominating driver in multiple ways, such as car performance, experimenting with different race strategies, and even directly assisting teammates for wins. That is kind of what Noah Gragson’s role is going to be in the Playoffs as Chase Briscoe aims for the Championship title.

How does the post-season welcome non-Playoffs drivers?

First and foremost, the NASCAR Playoffs field this year is a unique blend of varied drivers. While there are both rookies and veterans in the top-16, some of the more predictable names are missing from the list. So, for those drivers who barely escaped qualifying from the Playoffs, there is an inclusive feature in NASCAR format which allows them to get race wins. And going by the past 3 seasons, at least one non-Playoffs driver has registered a win out of the 10 races.

Apart from the perks to the non-Playoffs drivers, there are also benefits that Playoffs driver get from their non-qualifying counterparts. The strategies that need to be executed for the Payoffs drivers can be tested on the non-Playoffs drivers to verify the results.

According to Chase Briscoe’s official X handle, he wrote in 2016, “A lot of people keep saying I’m lucky to be where I am… Just wanted to clarify that I’m not lucky, I’m blessed.” This sentence is still relatable, this season as Briscoe reserved his Playoffs spot in the very last chance, but still displayed immense caliber in doing so.

To keep up with the momentum, and have a chance at winning the title, his first and SHR’s last, the team has disclosed to focus on #14. An insider tweeted on X a piece of information shared by Briscoe which said that “teammate Noah Gragson’s car will have the same parts, pieces and setups during the playoff.”

This will be helpful for Briscoe to check the permutations and combination before taking a game-changing call. Cars can often malfunction during races for reasons unknown and undiscovered beforehand. But Gragson will help Briscoe bridge that gap.

What are the chances of SHR’s win?

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While the 16-driver field is a little out of the ordinary, it still includes all 11 drivers from the top-3 teams in NASCAR, namely, HMS, Team Penske and JGR. There is not an ounce of doubt that the fight is going to be tough with the latest champion defending his position.

But not everyone has the kind of zeal that Briscoe possesses. He has many reasons to unlock his absolute potential and just go for the title, while still being cautious. Briscoe confessed his mistakes earlier this season, where he could have had better results. Since the first race of the post-season is at Atlanta Motor Speedway, he reflected back on his Atlanta race from the regular season.

Briscoe told Kevin Harvick after his Southern 500 win, “Our car at Atlanta earlier this year was incredible. That was a race I should have won. I was extremely aggressive and just put myself in a bad spot…I learned a lot there, just as far as you know just putting myself in better situations right? You know you can’t do that in the playoffs.” 

Let’s see how well Chase Briscoe and the #14 SHR team perform at the Quaker State 400 and build upon it further into the rounds.